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Javadekar targets Kerala government over ‘nepotism, corruption’
Referring to the ongoing tussle between the government and Governor Arif Mohamad Khan he said the government was using all opportunities to demean and denigrate the Governor who pointed out nepotism in universities
: The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Kerala government is steeped in corruption and nepotism and it is trying to demean and denigrate constitutional provisions, said senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar on Friday in the state capital.
“The hallmark of this government is nepotism and corruption. Leaders are in hurry to place their kin in universities and other government jobs,” he said.
Referring to the ongoing tussle between the government and Governor Arif Mohamad Khan he said the government was using all opportunities to demean and denigrate the Governor who pointed out nepotism in universities.
“The Governor is duty-bound and he is doing what the constitution prescribed. The CM and ministers are threatening him day in an out. And the move to gherao the Raj Bhawan is undemocratic and uncalled for,” said the party in-charge (Prabhari) of the southern state.
He accused education minister V Sivankutty of threatening the Governor by reminding him the assassination attempt on former Diwan of Travancore C P Ramaswami Iyer in 1947.
“How can a minister threaten the constitutional head of the state like this? The CM himself is calling the Governor names and threatening. This kind of demeaning and denigration of constitutional positions is seen never before,” he said, adding people will give a befitting reply to such a “corrupt regime”.
On the recent controversy over the letter purportedly written by Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran on employing party cadres in the municipal corporation, Javadekar said it exposed the CPI(M)’s design to give employment to its cadres only denying fair opportunities to 4.3 million unemployed youth in the state.
He also said protesting opposition workers were dealt with brutally in the state and the government was creating a constitutional anarchy deliberately. “Only terrorists hurl hand grenades in the country. But today I saw grenades were being thrown on protesting peaceful workers of Yuva Morcha by police. People who always talk about rights should see such brutalities in the CPI(M)-ruled state,” he said, adding that the state government-ordered probe was only an eyewash intended to bail out the Mayor and sought an inquiry under the guidance of the High Court.
Hitting back, minister Sivankutty said: “It is seems BJP leaders are trying to glorify C P Ramaswami Iyer. Javadekar conveniently omitted what the Governor said about the CM and others.”
The state has been witnessing a series of protests after the letter purportedly written by the Mayor surfaced last week. In the letter addressed to the party district secretary A Nagappan she allegedly sought party activists’ list for appointment in 295 temporary posts in the corporation. Though the Mayor later said the letter was not written by her and the government also ordered a probe, the opposition BJP and Congress alleged she was forced to retract after her letter came out in the open.
